Inside a $158-billion industry’s crazy/cool playground where pet inventors go to get discovered
BY ALYSON DUTCH
Trade shows are a delightful assault on the senses, a convention center chock full of thousands of exuberant entrepreneurs putting their best foot forward—and in the case of SuperZoo, their best paw forward.
It’s loud. It’s colorful. It’s interesting. It’s like a Middle Eastern souk of pet-lusciousness smack dab in the middle of a 112-degrees-at-9-p.m. summertime Las Vegas.
SuperZoo 2026 was my first visit to this pet paradise, and the fact that pets are allowed inside is reason enough to go. For lovers of all things four-legged, it’s relaxing to have animals to fawn over while wandering through a sea of organic, single-sourced, sardine-flavored pet foods, hooves, horns and freeze-dried critters-turned-treats, Hermès-fancy accessories, and wondrous technologies that spit out treats as owners train remotely from across the room—or the world.
Proud pet owners sashayed about with wildly gussied-up pups: a standard poodle painted in pink leopard print with a tutu, Croc’s dog shoes and pink goggles; an uber-coiffed Shih Tzu whose glamorous tresses whooshed behind him as he trotted along the vibrant Mandalay Bay paisley carpet, impossible to miss.
I met a rabbit in a pram.
I got to snuggle baby kittens up for adoption by a local rescue (thanks to pet care giant Hartz, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, for that irresistible flypaper at its booth). I was suckered in.
And who would give up the chance to have an 8-week-old calico burrow its little whiskered, purring face into your neck for a glorious 10 minutes?
Big boys are watching
At the entrance and in the middle of the show floor, you’ll always find the big boys with the big booths. But it’s on the edges where you find the little gems—hopeful inventors and entrepreneurs who’ve spent their last dime to be there, who’ve designed something fabulous to attract just the right buyer.
This year, SuperZoo gave those inventors some incredible resources. On stage, investment bankers, venture capitalists and accelerators spoke about the kinds of ideas that earn their attention and money.
Mars, Inc., the $65-plus-billion global company with more than 130 brands across pet care, snacking and food and nutrition, showcased its Leap Ventures Studio accelerator, which brilliantly incubates promising brands while building out its own pipeline of next big hits. Investors from other corners of pet-industry money—TAW Ventures, Digitalis Ventures and 1731 MGMT, which specializes in point-of-care diagnostic pet products (yup, it’s a thing)—spoke about what they’re looking for.
Listening to them, you understood why the little guys on the edges of the floor keep grinding: Someone is always watching for the next great idea.
And there were plenty of those ideas, tucked between the over-abundance of organic pet foods—which was pretty mind-numbing.
A few brands broke through to me purely on the strength of their packaging. Chief among them was a New Zealand brand hatched by two female entrepreneurs: Their “Woof” and ”Purr” freeze-dried treat pouches featured crisp photography of fresh chicken filets with sprigs of rosemary, carrots and kale, and an exotic fish called Wild Bushtail paired with juicy blueberries, baby bok choy and yams, all on a stunning white background. The look took my breath away.
I wanted to taste what was in there myself.
Solving larger problems
Somewhere around Hour 2, I started noticing and counting how many booths featured Golden Retrievers. I literally bumped into a wondrously warm family of brothers from Birmingham, Alabama. I met their dad, their mom and their in-laws.
The Gaines Family Farmstead brand stole my heart on the spot. This passionate family of pet purveyors are making wholesome food while quietly solving a real problem: turning waste streams into rewards for pups. They told me about silver and bighead carp, an invasive species that has spread rapidly through U.S. waterways—particularly the Mississippi River basin, where its voracious appetite for plankton is outcompeting native fish and disrupting the entire aquatic food web.
They told me about the 300-350-million-day-old male chicks culled every year by the U.S. egg industry because only hens can lay eggs. And guess what this resourceful brand does with the carp and the baby boy chicks? Freeze-dries them and sells them as whole-food, high-protein, whole-food dog treats.
It’s brilliant, inspiring, and it’s making a difference in the world.
Then there are the big boys who got big by thinking small and personal. Barks—you probably know it as BarkBox—has a founder story that really wound up my wow engine.
CEO Matt Meeker built the subscription box into the world’s most perfect consumer research machine. Every month, subscribers say “aye” or “nay,” and the company designs roughly 100 new products a month, manufacturing the winners and quietly retiring the ones that fall flat.
It’s the cleanest research and development ecosystem I’ve seen in action. They’ve smartly collaborated with top human brands to make pet versions of Crocs, tiny-breed Crocs pet beds, and—after breaking down years of resistance—actual Girl Scout pet cookies.
Emboldened by all that research on what pet owners actually want, Meeker then launched BarkAir, an airline built so you never again have to put your beloved baby into the freezing, unregulated luggage hold of a plane just to bring him or her to Thanksgiving.
To prove his point, he climbed into a pet carrier and went through the entire baggage-handling ordeal himself, on camera. It’s one of the most compelling things I’ve seen. And it’s no wonder he’s pulled in serious talent from Disney, Best Buy and Target to run his sales operation.
So many stories—honestly, enough to keep every inventor on track to get their concepts to market.
Credentialed, creatives
There was the former creative director of Ralph Lauren, whose then-boyfriend (now husband) had his hand go through her dog’s poop bag one too many times. So together, they created MetroPaws, possibly the prettiest poop bag imaginable.
And, yes, she quit her day job.
There was Paw Fancy, a collar-and-leash line so very Upper East Side it reminded me of Hermès Italian leather with Chloé-esque gold loops and clasps.
When I passed a booth that read “K-Beauty for Dogs,” I nearly tripped. What an ingenious idea, marrying Korean beauty technology with pet care!
The brand name, StuckSoap, wasn’t quite as sharp as the packaging or the concept, but the elegant entrepreneur behind it—who looked like she had stepped off a modeling runway herself—made a believer out of me. My dogs liked the shampoo samples.
A few more stood out:
Furry Muse, dreamed up by a former TikTok marketing maven who clearly understands exactly what, how and why things sell on that Gen-Z-rich platform.
Pet Strip Club, a genuinely hilarious pet breath freshener tongue-melt, packaged in a flip-top cigarette box like a deck of playing cards.
And one of the most impressive vets I’ve ever met, Dr. Dolores Tyneway Robi, whose Holistic Vet Blend draws on an almost unbelievable range of credentials—Cornell educated, with training spanning acupuncture, canine rehab therapy, chiropractic, Tuina, Chinese herbal medicine, small-animal surgery and homeopathy. Her line of nutritional premixes and supplements is designed for the millions of pet parents who cook for their animals at home with love, but without realizing their good intentions aren’t always nutritionally complete.
Pair of aces
Two stories stayed with me longer than the rest.
The first belongs to Ava of Ava’s Pet Palace, who developed her line of pet treats (wrapped in the most delightful pink packaging) all by herself, at age 8. Today it’s on shelves at Erewhon Markets, every Mariano’s, Fresh Thyme, the Obama Presidential Center (yes, really!), and independent pet retailers nationwide, with earlier runs through 139 Target stores and more than 1,000 PetSmart locations.
Her direct-to-consumer sales grew 60 percent year-over-year in 2025, with a 57 percent-plus customer return rate. This African American teen-preneur is ready for the big time; honestly, she needs someone like 1731 MGMT to boost her already remarkable line. Behind her is a family that bet on her completely, including a father who left a career as a nuclear engineer because running a pet product venture with his daughter turned out to be more fulfilling.
The last one I’ll kvell about is a little frosted, pretty, truffle-style treat called Pearl & Paw Stuffed Treats—a premium, giftable alternative to the standard dry dog biscuit. It’s the creation of Buky Ogunleye, a four-time entrepreneur and an enterprising immigrant from Nigeria who tried her hand at everything from accounting tech to beauty before this, which I’m betting will really click.
The mini frosted cakes come packaged in peekaboo clear plastic boxes with gold printing and shiny ribbon. When you look closer at what’s actually inside, that’s when it gets fun: sardine-stuffed, duck-stuffed, real food dressed up like something you’d find on an epicurean canapé stand at teatime.
I hope taking this walk through the show with me gives you the oomph you need to keep doing what you’re doing. There are millions of inventors just like the ones I met—hustling, grinding, failing, and tenaciously moving toward their dreams. And succeeding. You can, too.
